Itzcoatl (TR31r)

Itzcoatl (TR31r)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This compound glyph for the personal name Itzcoatl ("Obsidian Blade-Serpent") shows a serpent or snake (coatl) in profile, looking toward the viewer's right. Its undulating body is terracotta-orange with a red underbelly. Its eye is open, and the bifurcated tongue protrudes. Along the animal's curving back is a row of nine black, triangular, obsidian blades (itztli), and it has a yellow rattle at the tip of its tail.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

The contexualizing image gives the gloss Itzcohuatl (i.e., Itzcoatl). This man, born in 1380, was the fourth ruler of Tenochtitlan and governed from 1427 to 1440. During this time the Aztec Empire began to emerge and the Nahuas overcame the Tepanecs as the dominant rulers.

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

culebra de navajas

Gloss Normalization: 

Culebra de Navajas

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Telleriano-Remensis, Codex (TR)
Date of Manuscript: 

ca. 1550–1563

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Animals, incl. Birds, Bugs, Insects, Reptiles, etc.
Names (places)
Politics, Power, Governance
Religion (Indigenous)
Socio-Political Units, Cities, Towns, Neighborhoods
Stones, Rocks, Lapidary, Masonry
Technology (all types), plus Tools
Tongue Protruding/Noticeable
Weapons, Shields, Armor
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
orange/terracotta
red
Shapes and Perspectives: 
spiky
curving, curvy, curved
bifurcated
profile view
facing right
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inherent/internal/merged
downward
Keywords: 

rulers, governantes, imperio azteca, Aztec empire, sobsidiana, piedras, navajas, cuchillos, serpientes, culebras, víboras, serpents, snakes, knives, flints, nombres de hombres, cohuatl

Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

Itzcoatl, fourteenth ruler of the Mexica
itz(tli), obsidian, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/itztli
coa(tl), snake/serpent, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/coatl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Serpiente de Obsidiana, o Navaja-Culebra

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Telleriano-Remensis Codex, folio 31 recto, MS Mexicain 385, Gallica digital collection, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8458267s/f87.item.zoom

Image Source, Rights: 

The non-commercial reuse of images from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is free as long as the user is in compliance with the legislation in force and provides the citation: “Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France” or “Source gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: 
See Also: 

Itzcoatl (TR29r)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz5v)

Itzcoatzin (Mdz19r)

Itzcoatl (MH810r)